....'Palestinian Leadership' Preventing Peace

[Sweet_Caroline]

This is so obvious that I would think it goes without saying, but probably needs to be said to people on here.




Former member of Egyptian terrorist group says 'suffering of Palestinians' caused by their leadership's 'barbaric attitude towards Jews'.

By Ari Soffer
First Publish: 3/27/2014, 10:38 AM


A prominent former Islamist, now self-declared "reformer of Islam", Dr. Tawfik Hamid, has reiterated his view that the ball is in the Palestinians' court to make peace with Israel.

Dr. Hamid is a Senior Fellow and Chair for the Study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and formerly a member of the radical Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya group in Egypt, which is blacklisted by the US and other countries as a terrorist group.

He said that although it is undeniable that many Palestinian Arabs are suffering, the facts on the ground prove that the finger of blame should be pointed not towards Israel, but towards Hamas and "the Palestinian leadership" who, instead of responding to repeated Israeli overtures for peace, instead pursue an agenda of anti-Semitic incitement, rejectionism and terrorism.

"You have one million Arabs living in Israel with the Jews, and they are not suffering like the Arabs who are actually controlled by Arabs" elsewhere in the region, Dr. Hamid pointed out.

"To be honest, you have to say that the suffering of the Palestinians is because of their leadership and the wrong decisions of leaders like Hamas, not Israel," he said. "The moment the Palestinian leadership stops its arrogance and its barbaric attitude towards the Jews then you will see that things will change and you will see that no Palestinian will be suffering there."

A prominent former Islamist, now self-declared "reformer of Islam", Dr. Tawfik Hamid, has reiterated his view that the ball is in the Palestinians' court to make peace with Israel.

Dr. Hamid is a Senior Fellow and Chair for the Study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and formerly a member of the radical Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya group in Egypt, which is blacklisted by the US and other countries as a terrorist group.

He said that although it is undeniable that many Palestinian Arabs are suffering, the facts on the ground prove that the finger of blame should be pointed not towards Israel, but towards Hamas and "the Palestinian leadership" who, instead of responding to repeated Israeli overtures for peace, instead pursue an agenda of anti-Semitic incitement, rejectionism and terrorism.

"You have one million Arabs living in Israel with the Jews, and they are not suffering like the Arabs who are actually controlled by Arabs" elsewhere in the region, Dr. Hamid pointed out.

"To be honest, you have to say that the suffering of the Palestinians is because of their leadership and the wrong decisions of leaders like Hamas, not Israel," he said. "The moment the Palestinian leadership stops its arrogance and its barbaric attitude towards the Jews then you will see that things will change and you will see that no Palestinian will be suffering there."

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0m3RghOcFo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0m3RghOcFo[/ame]

Ex-Islamist: Palestinian Leadership Prevents Peace - Middle East - News - Israel National News

 

[SAYIT]

This is so obvious that I would think it goes without saying, but probably needs to be said to people on here.

Former member of Egyptian terrorist group says 'suffering of Palestinians' caused by their leadership's 'barbaric attitude towards Jews'.

By Ari Soffer
First Publish: 3/27/2014, 10:38 AM

A prominent former Islamist, now self-declared "reformer of Islam", Dr. Tawfik Hamid, has reiterated his view that the ball is in the Palestinians' court to make peace with Israel.

Dr. Hamid is a Senior Fellow and Chair for the Study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and formerly a member of the radical Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya group in Egypt, which is blacklisted by the US and other countries as a terrorist group.

He said that although it is undeniable that many Palestinian Arabs are suffering, the facts on the ground prove that the finger of blame should be pointed not towards Israel, but towards Hamas and "the Palestinian leadership" who, instead of responding to repeated Israeli overtures for peace, instead pursue an agenda of anti-Semitic incitement, rejectionism and terrorism.

"You have one million Arabs living in Israel with the Jews, and they are not suffering like the Arabs who are actually controlled by Arabs" elsewhere in the region, Dr. Hamid pointed out.

"To be honest, you have to say that the suffering of the Palestinians is because of their leadership and the wrong decisions of leaders like Hamas, not Israel," he said. "The moment the Palestinian leadership stops its arrogance and its barbaric attitude towards the Jews then you will see that things will change and you will see that no Palestinian will be suffering there."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0m3RghOcFo

Ex-Islamist: Palestinian Leadership Prevents Peace - Middle East - News - Israel National News

Through my interaction with Israeli Arabs I have learned that many Palestinians agree with Hamid's truths but saying so in public can be very dangerous.

 

[waltky]

USCIRF calling for Double the Number of Blacklisted Countries...

Religious Freedom Watchdog: U.S. Should Double Number of Blacklisted Countries
May 1, 2014 – The State Department should double the number of countries blacklisted for violating religious freedom, with Pakistan named as the most egregious offender among those not currently designated, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said Wednesday.

Releasing its annual report, the independent statutory watchdog chided the federal government for not using more effectively the tools provided for under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), designed to make the promotion of religious freedom around the world a foreign policy priority. “America’s commitment to religious freedom abroad, embodied in the IRFA law enacted more than 15 years ago, must be renewed and strengthened,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert George. Under the law, the executive branch may designate “countries of particular concern” (CPCs), which may then be targeted with U.S. sanctions or other measures intended to encourage governments to improve.

Although the last decade has witnessed a deterioration in religious freedom in many countries – perhaps most obviously seen in Pakistan’s harsh implementation of controversial blasphemy laws and Syria’s “descent into a sectarian civil war” – no new country has been added to the CPC list since Uzbekistan in 2006. (That same year, Vietnam was removed from the list.) From 2007 until today, the list has not changed: The same eight countries– Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan – are named. The USCIRF believes those eight countries should remain designated, but urged the State Department to add another eight – Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

The report said congressional intent was clear that CPC designations should take place annually, and indeed in the first seven years this did occur. But the process has become erratic, and therefore less credible. (It took the Obama administration almost 32 months before it announced any CPC designation, new or otherwise; when it did so for the first time, in Sept. 2011, it named the same eight countries that had been listed since 2007.) “Issuing CPC designations cre*ates moments of clarity for diplomacy and truth telling,” the report said. “The State Department should ensure an annual designa*tion process, and if it does not happen, Congress should make clear its intent by amending IRFA. The CPC list should also expand and retract as conditions warrant.”

Pakistan has been arguably the most glaring example of the executive branch’s failure to implement IRFA effectively, in the view of many religious freedom campaigners. The USCIRF has recommended CPC status for Pakistan every year since 2002 – and every year since 2002 the State Department has disregarded the recommendation. The appeals took on new urgency in 2011, when the assassination of two politicians critical of the blasphemy laws highlighted an issue that has cost the lives of scores of Pakistanis and the freedom of many hundreds more. Yet Pakistan remains off the list to this day. “Pakistan represents the worst situation in the world for religious freedom for countries not currently desig*nated by the U.S. government as ‘countries of particu*lar concern,’” the new USCIRF report said.

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